


Warm Snow

by Black_wings_fly



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, Author! Levi, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Except probably Hange, Fireman! Erwin, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hange owns a cafe, Homeless! Jean, How Do I Tag, I Don't Even Know, I don't know who thought of that but they were an idiot, LEVI IS A LITTLE OOC, M/M, Minor Krista Lenz | Historia Reiss/Ymir, Minor Moblit Berner/Hange Zoë, Moblit actually runs the cafe, Tbh so is everyone, Volunteer! Ymir, Waiter! Mike, mentions of kenny - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-06
Updated: 2018-01-22
Packaged: 2018-11-09 23:05:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11114784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Black_wings_fly/pseuds/Black_wings_fly
Summary: Levi sees a boy lying on a bench in a park and wants to know his story, could it be his job as a famous author? Or the beginnings of something else. (Seriously I'm so bad at descriptions)





	1. The Boy In The Rain

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah this is the first time I wrote a plan beforehand and so it shouldn't be awful and suddenly have me not updating for months on end like with Night Creature. Sooo this is the replacement for that other fic I was writing (I think it was called Bandages and Wings) but yeah hopefully it should be a bit better.

I stepped out of the building, the smell of coffee chasing me out the door along with the cheery call of one of the few people that considers me their friend, the four-eyed woman yelled something inaudible and I kissed my teeth making a ‘tch’ sound. The sky was grey, the colour of dust and old movies and ashes as it spewed out icy bullets. I sighed and opened the umbrella I had brought with me. A shiver passed through me as I walked and I pulled my jacket tighter. The cold attacked me with little daggers of ice anywhere I wasn’t covered and the wind hit me with an unforgiving force. I wished I had worn a thicker jacket. I looked over to the park, and that was when I saw him. A boy. I couldn’t tell if he was young enough be a boy or if he had reached adulthood yet. He had one of those faces. I was struck by his beauty, he seemed ethereal even lying on a bench in casual clothes. His face was upturned to the sky and his eyes were closed, almost as though he was welcoming the rain. Drops rolled down his face when they hit, tracing the tracks tears would take and resting in dips (I couldn’t tell I was too far away and simply assuming things). He looked like snow white waiting for the prince to kiss him and wake him from a poison apple induced sleep, I could almost see the glass coffin he would have been lying in. His hair was longish and covered his ears, but more from lack of care than being styled that way. His lips were plump and slightly blue from the cold but I imagined they would be a pale pink under normal conditions. Even his nose was perfect, slightly curved inwards making and ending on a gentle incline in the style of a ski jump. However, the most notable thing about his face, was the strange marks under his eyes. I couldn’t tell if they were birthmarks or scars but they looked too perfect to be either. Each mark was thicker at the top then curved down to a point on his cheek sort of looking like elongated raindrops. They got bigger the closer they got to the side of his face and ran directly under his eyes and they were red in colour, the sort of red you saw in diagrams of muscles, almost as if something had been attached to his face, but that was impossible so I just went with birthmarks. I looked away from his face and noticed that his head was lying on a worn back pack that had probably once been expensive, now it looked like even charity shops would turn their noses up at it. For clothes, he wore a maroon jumper which had clearly seen better days and yet still accentuated his olive skin and blue jeans with large holes that exposed his- very bony- knees, at the ends they were fraying and trailing scraps of white over his tanned ankles which were sockless even though it was cold and raining. On his feet were a pair of canvas shoes that seemed to be held together by hopes and wishes and I could tell even from here that they were soaked through to his feet. The bench he lay on seemed uncomfortable and the fact that he was lying there in this rain told me he was homeless because no one was that stupid. I wondered if he would find shelter. I wondered if he could find shelter. I wondered how he got there. He was clearly young and yet he was already homeless and possibly starving. What could his story have been? Had he run away from home? Had he lost his family? Had he been kicked out? He seemed like the perfect start for a character in one of my novels. I wondered if I should take him with me and help him, my house was big enough and I even had a spare room he could stay in, and yet, I could barely take care of myself as it was so taking care of two people would be too much for me and an awful idea. Still… the boy would probably be happy with anything. I debated with myself for a while then finally decided that if he was still there tomorrow I would take him home with me. Feeling satisfied with my decision I turned and walked on.

Well, I had tried to walk on, but had ended up at the nearest corner shop buying the boy some sandwiches, water and fruit (I had contemplated a warm drink but figured it would probably be cold by the time he woke up). I frowned in confusion, I had never found myself doing this before, I was in no way the sort to give random homeless people money or food and yet here I was. Something clearly drew me to the boy maybe it was those strange marks, or maybe it was my habit of basing the characters of my novels on real people, it wasn’t like it mattered why I wanted to look after him it was just strange because it wasn’t the sort of thing I would do. I walked up to the counter scowling at my thoughts and the helper swallowed noticeably. While lost in thoughts I had started scowling at her, oh well, no point in going back now, I saw that her hands shook slightly and almost sighed inwardly at having the face of a serial killer when I was angry. I looked down at the plastic bag in my hand as I walked out the store. At least she hadn’t charged me 5p for the bag like some places did, although that could have been the scowl that was directed at her (I had experienced several situations where kids had run away from me crying and figured it out it was probably something inherited from my mother, that woman could be scary when she wanted to.)

I soon found myself at the gate of the park with my hand resting on the scratched black paint. I frowned again wondering why I was so nervous to open it. I made a sound of irritation and pushed it open shoving away those thoughts and feelings and heading towards the bench where the boy lay. He didn’t open his eyes and I could see the regular rise and fall of his chest that told me he was asleep. From here I could see his face properly. He was even more beautiful up close, but he looked starved, his cheek bones were quite prominent and his jaw stuck out and neither did this in a natural way. I could see that his eyelashes were unnaturally long for a man but it didn’t make him look feminine, just young. Little spheres of water rested in a row at the tops of them making him look like something out of a fairy tale (although more a story about fairies this time). Up close I could see there were seven of the marks under each eye. They didn’t take anything away from his beauty, if anything they made him more beautiful but I could guess that he had likely been teased or even bullied because of them as I knew the nature of teenagers all too well. I shook my head of those thoughts realising that I had been staring and that if he woke up it would be super creepy. I set down the white plastic bag in his eyeline and then contemplated it for a minute before leaving my umbrella as well. It wasn’t like it would kill me to get a little wet while walking home and if the weather got any worse I could always run home. I sighed then turned away heading towards my house and, hopefully, a warm shower.

\---

I stepped out the shower towelling my hair and still thinking about the boy in the rain. He had plagued my thoughts since I had left the park and I was starting to get frustrated. I walked into my room and pulled out some trackies, not bothering to tie the string; and a baggy short sleeved shirt. I went to the kitchen and warmed a shitty microwave meal for my dinner (cooking was an elusive activity and never did what the instructions said it would do so microwave meals and take out were just generally safer, it wasn’t like I couldn’t afford it anyway). While waiting, I listened to the sounds of the city through the window: distant car engines, rain pouring on to roof tops and the screeching of a siren. When it was done, I headed to the unnecessarily large sofa, switching on the TV and choosing a film from Netflix. I knew that I should have been working on my new manuscript but I had tried earlier and ended up just writing about the boy from the park then deleting it all in annoyance. Maybe it was guilt at leaving him there. I sighed and finished the pathetic excuse for a meal, trying to focus my attention on the movie and failing miserably. Before I knew it, I was dozing off on the sofa dreaming of olive skin, high cheek bones and chocolaty hair.

I woke with a start and looked around confused for a second, before realising I had fallen asleep on the sofa. Sighing I sat up and stretched, noticing that the TV was still on and having to search for the remote so I could turn it off, before getting up and sleepily walking to my room having decided that my bed was a lot more comfortable than the sofa. Then realising that I had left the dirty plate from my ‘dinner’ and having to walk back to the kitchen to clean it. I practically collapsed into the sheets when I finally reached my bed. Choosing to just enjoy the fluffiness and warmth, I wondered if the boy would be able to at least find a sheltered place to sleep tonight (preferably a homeless shelter because anywhere else would have been disgusting and I didn’t want to deal with that shit tomorrow), then I groaned realising I was thinking about the boy again. I tried to block out the thoughts of him by wrapping myself up in my quilt and hoping it would shield me, also I was feeling cold since the heating had turned off a couple hours ago. I soon closed my eyes and was practically asleep before my head hit the pillow.

_I’m in an unfamiliar place. A street somewhere on a different day. I look around at the rather small houses. Well they aren’t exactly small, I guess mine is just big. I look up and flakes of, what looks like snow, are falling from sky. I reach out to touch one, but it isn’t cold. Warm snow. Wait, no, it’s ash? I look at the ground and see that it covers half the road Leaving a grey carpet with bits that have even flown into the gardens of other houses looking like petals. Dead, grey petals. The only explanation was that it must have been a fire, and a big one. I turn around and see the source of the fire. A house, more of a skeleton now. It’s not a very big one and not any different to the others on the street, and yet a jolt of pain runs through me when I see it. People crowd around it and I see there is a fire engine but there’s practically no point in it being there as the house it burnt badly: there are piles of ash and the bricks that haven’t fallen are blackened with scorch marks. The timber of the place is also black and crumbling in several places. There are holes where the windows use to be with shattered glass in all except one, the one that isn’t shattered is on the bottom floor and it has melted glass hanging off it and dripping down like the rain from earlier. I look at the people surrounding it and they all seem to be very sad, they probably knew the residents that are being carried out on stretchers with white sheets covering them, a much purer white than that which surrounds the house. I feel that I don’t belong here and take one last look at the people surrounding the house, and the house itself before I start walking away…_


	2. Unable To See His Face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren's POV this time... (No spoilers in my summaries)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Chapter 2 is here, once again it's kinda short but the next one is a lot longer so it's all good. I hope you enjoy. (Hey look I updated way before I said I would).

I cracked my eyes open. The rain had stopped. No. The rain was still going. I was not getting wet though. Well, wetter. I looked up and saw an umbrella over me. Since when had that been there? It looked expensive too. I looked over the edge of the bench and there was a bag there, a small white plastic one, the sort you get in a corner shop. When I looked up again I saw the retreating figure of a man. A man without an umbrella. He was wearing a black jumper that looked too thin for this weather. It had a hood but didn’t look particularly water proof. Or cheap. Nor did the black skinny jeans he wore. He had an undercut. The top was longer than a normal undercut and his hair was silky black the sort that you wanted to run your hands through. I looked up at the umbrella wondering if he had left it there. I could feel that my face was still damp so it clearly hadn’t been long since it had been put there. He was also the only person crazy enough to be out in this weather without an umbrella, it was a logical conclusion and I made a note to myself to thank the man if I ever saw him again. I looked down at the plastic bad and almost cried for joy. Food. Actual, real, food that I didn’t have to pay for. The art of begging didn’t appeal to me and I hadn’t eaten yesterday because the homeless shelter had refused to let me in because of my last fight with Jean (that was over a week ago now and it wasn’t my fault he was being an asshole). There wasn’t much inside. A bottle of water, A packet with sandwiches and a fruit salad packet. I went straight for the water. Even in this weather I could feel the thirst baring down on me.

I had never thought that a sandwich could taste so good. The mixture of ham and cheese danced on my tongue and the soft bread complimented the flavours perfectly. I had to concentrate on not engulfing it straight away and saving the other one for tomorrow. I decided against saving the fruit. The grapes exploded with flavour when bitten in to and the melons were sweet and made my hands sticky. The slices of tangerine were juicy and the apple was crisp with just the right amount of sourness. I couldn’t have wanted for more. I drank a bit more of the water, but decided against finishing the bottle for the same reason I didn’t finish the second sandwich (though I did eat the ham because that was going to be disgusting tomorrow). I cuddled my jumper around me, then winced at the sensation of damp denim sliding against my legs. Perhaps I should trying to get into the shelter would be a good idea. I sat up and stretched, yawning while I was at it. I then stuffed the, now, cheese sandwich and water into my bag and grabbed the umbrella.

The homeless shelter I went to was only a block away and with the umbrella I didn’t feel the need to run through the rain. I arrived and the lady at the door looked at me sceptically, she called to the back after looking at the wall again to see if that picture was really me and I groaned when Ymir appeared. “Okay I know you banned me, but you can’t deny a poor homeless boy shelter when the weather is like this.”

“Yes I can. Get out, Jean is already here and I don’t want to deal with your shit.”

“Wait so you let him in but not me?... I promise I won’t fight.” She finally gave in after I practically swore a blood oath. I sighed at the fact that I had to beg just to get shelter for the night, but it wasn’t by choice, I hadn’t run away from home or anything stupid, certain things had thrown me into this situation. A fire, insurance companies and the fact that I was 19 years old to be precise. I rubbed my eyes and wandered up to the counter refusing the food but accepting a drink of hot chocolate.

I recognised the horse-faced asshole at the back of the room and while I didn’t like him much, he was the only person I talked to here. I also assumed that Ymir had made him sign a blood oath to not piss me off and hoped for the best. He looked at me when I sat next to him, then scowled and turned back to his food. “Not eating today Jeager?”

“I ate already.” He looked at me in curiosity. “Some guy left me food and his umbrella while I was sleeping on a bench in the park near here.”

“Oh really?” He raised a sceptical eyebrow. I pulled out the sandwich and showed him my umbrella.

“Well I’m surprised someone didn’t just ignore you long enough to buy you food. Though I guess with those birth mark things I guess it’s hard to get people not to notice you.” He smirked and I looked down in shame. I hated the red marks that covered my cheeks. Teenagers in school (being a part of the human race) were not a forgiving species and would jump at the opportunity to put anyone down or make them feel self conscious. The worst one had been when someone had ‘asked me out’ and it turned out they were just using that as an excuse to get me to some place where the popular kids could laugh at me and leave me in the middle of the woods at night. I shook myself of the memories and instead thought about the man who had been walking away. I assumed he was the one who left me that food, but I couldn’t be sure. I decided to sleep off the confusing thoughts.

_A Graveyard. Not the usual graveyard. Someone else’s graveyard. Someone else’s funeral, well of course it was someone else’s funeral but it wasn’t the funeral I was usually at. I look up and see a beautiful blue sky without a cloud in sight and a burning white sun. Rain would be better for this situation. I look around me trying to work out where I could be (other than in a graveyard). There is a gathering of people in one corner. People wearing black. I feel as if it would be bad to go over and look, but it’s not like there is anywhere else to go. They all look solemn. Except one man in the corner with longish hair, a hat and a bottle of what looks like vodka. I sort of want to punch him for being insensitive but then again I can understand the need to forget in this sort of situation, I have experienced this before after all. I look over to the coffin. It’s made of a beautiful deep maroon wood and has a beautiful polish to it with elegant ornaments and decorations. The person who is in this must be rich. The woman inside has long, thick black silky hair and it reminds me of the man walking away. Her skin is pale but it looks as though it was that way even before she died. She has sharp features and beautiful long black eyelashes. I wonder who she was and why I’m at her funeral. I look around at the tear stained faces and then back at the man with the alcohol. I realise that I don’t belong beside these people mourning. I don’t even know the woman. I turn around…_

A drop of water hit my face and woke me up. I found myself in a doorway of some shop that had been closed for years. I sighed then stretched my arms over my head (I had been kicked out of the shelter again because horse-face’s ugly mug was really punchable. I looked around and saw that it had only just started to brighten up. I groaned and cursed the rain for waking me up at this ungodly hour. Then again, it wasn’t like it hadn’t happened before. I looked down at my cold hands and shoved in my armpits before deciding that I would be better walking off the cold. I groaned again, picked up my back pack, and headed in the direction of my favourite park. I liked it because it was quiet so. However, I couldn’t deny that I was also wondering if that man would come by again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, please leave comment and kudos if you enjoyed. <3


	3. A choice made with guilt?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi picks Eren up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to update. I suddenly got very busy, but anyway here is chapter 3. I hope you like it. :)

I opened my eyes shaking myself of the strange dream. I checked my clock and saw that I had woken up late again. I decided that it was too late for breakfast and that brunch at Hange’s would be easier. Grabbing the first thing I saw in my closet (there was never anything on the floor), I headed out the door of my house, making sure to grab the keys (last time I forget them it was a nightmare). I decided to avoid the park on my way there because I didn’t want to find the boy and then not have my food because of dealing with him. I opened the door to Hange’s café (honestly whoever had thought that Hange should be allowed to run a café was an idiot). Mike was standing at the counter looking stiff. Anyone who didn’t know him would be daunted by his large presence, but I could tell that he was just nervous because he didn’t like talking to people, especially not strangers. This meant that Moblit was upstairs tending to a probably hungover Hange or both were ill (they quite literally lived above the café). I walked up to the counter and I could practically feel Mike’s relief at it being someone he knew. (I honestly had no idea how he could see me through his hair, I also didn’t think I’d ever seen his eyes). I ordered my usual Earl Grey tea and decided on a bagel with jam for my meal (the word brunch was really pissing me off). I then chose a table at the back of the room and drank my tea in peace.

\---

When I stepped outside it was raining again. Great fat drops planted themselves on my face and I almost wished I hadn’t given my umbrella to that boy. That reminded me of my promise to myself. I headed home in the direction of the park. There was a familiar umbrella on the bench and underneath it a familiar boy. I almost sighed from relief. I didn’t think I could have taken the guilt much longer (at least that was what I told myself). I walked over to the boy and saw that he was once again passed out on his back pack. “Oi kid.” No answer. “Brat wake up.” Still nothing. I poked his cheeks and he simply turned over in his sleep. Fuck this kid was stubborn. I decided just to shake him awake. “Ok m’ awake, m’ awake.” I looked down and was struck speechless. I had thought he was beautiful before but now that I could see his eyes I was taken aback. They were teal green and large like great green emeralds. I could see flecks of a sort of gold colour in his iris and I decided that those eyes were my new favourite colour (I was so fucked). “Who are you?” I was shaken out of my daze. “Wait are you the guy that left me this umbrella?”

“So you were awake?”

“No, but I saw you walking away without an umbrella in the rain yesterday.” I frowned.

“Why does that mean that it was me that left it.” Why was I even arguing with him?

“Because you were the only one outside.” He made a fair point I couldn’t deny it.

“Whatever. Get up you’re coming with me.”

“Where?”

“My house.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to help you.”

“I don’t need pity. Also, how do I know I can trust you?” He looked suspicious and he did have every reason to.

“I’m not pitying you I just want to help you. In terms of the trust I don’t know how you can trust me, take a fucking kitchen knife and attack me if I try anything funny?” He seemed to accept this and slowly stood up. When he did stand, he wobbled and seemed to be about to fall but I caught him. “Did you not eat that food I left you or something?”

“I ate most of it.” I sighed. This was going to be a long day. Deciding it would be quicker, I put my arm around his waist and supported most of his weight on myself (I could tell how thin he was by the fact that I could feel his hip bones through the jumper). Then I started walking in the direction of my house.

\---

Unlocking the door turned out to be a difficult task when you were practically carrying someone. Especially when that someone was a full head and shoulders taller than you. I scowled at the thought and blamed my shitty genetics (sorry mum). When I had finally opened the door, I seposited the kid on a chair in my kitchen and went about trying to cook (more like microwave) something that would taste like rubber (I decided that the readymade tomato soup in the cupboard would be the hardest thing to mess up).

He started eating it practically the second I put it on the table with some day-old bread. He looked ridiculously happy at the thought of shitty soup. “You don’t even know my name, why are you being so nice?”

“Tell me your name then.” His face told me that wasn’t a valid reason but he answered anyway.

“Eren Jeager.” I recognized the surname but I couldn’t tell where from. I decided that it was probably just a common surname and I’d met someone with it before.

“What’s your name?”

“Levi Ackerman.”

“As in the writer of ‘the demons of our past’ series.”

“Yup.” He looked impressed. “I’m surprised you can read kid.”

“Just because I was homeless when you found me doesn’t mean I was always homeless.” Was his only explanation. I took away the bowl, Eren having finished the soup ages ago. He looked a lot better after the meal. “Go take a shower and I’ll wash your clothes while you’re at it. You smell.” He raised an eyebrow.

“Of course I smell. I’ve been living on the streets for a year and you tend to find that your priorities change when that happens.” I had to admit that he had a valid point and simply scowled. Eren put his hands up in surrender and headed towards the bathroom. I waited for a bit before grabbing his clothes from just outside the door. They really did smell and I had to hold them away from my face while carrying them. I stuffed them in the washing machine, not wanting to put any of my clothes in there with them I just wasted energy on a single outfit. Realising he had nothing else to wear, I went to search my closet for anything that might fit him. In the end, I had to settle for a pair of trackies that I’d bought for sleeping (I liked my sleeping clothes being too big) and a t-shirt that I had also bought for sleeping in. I then left them, and a pair of boxers that I had bought thinking that they were smaller than they were, outside the door. Then it was a matter of standing in my living room feeling awkward and wondering what to do.

When I finally heard footsteps coming down the corridor, I practically jumped for joy. I looked up and saw that Eren had shaved the stubble that had lined his still too prominent jaw and swallowed down all the unnecessary thoughts I was having. The clothes did look rather small for him and I focused on that, trying supress my laughter. He caught my smirk though and scowled. “It’s not exactly my fault you’re so short.” Oh no he did not. He did not just insult my height. He could have chosen anything to tease me on and it just had to be that.

“When your clothes are dry we’re going shopping.” I said dryly.

“Why?” I could fucking hear the laughter in his voice and cursed my genetics again.

“Because you have nothing good to wear and you also need a haircut.” He grinned and I ignored my heart as it skipped a beat.

\---

Eren was acting like a kid at a sweet shop as we walked around town. “I feel bad you spending money on me though.”

“Kid, no matter how much you spend I assure you it will not but a dent in my budget.”

“What are you super rich or something.”

“If the house didn’t tell you that then the fact that I have a really famous series of books published should have done.” He considered this, then went red with embarrassment. Somehow those marks were still obvious even when the rest of his face was bright red. I frowned. “What are those marks?” He flinched.

“Uh. They’re just birthmarks. Weird huh?” I shook my head. He looked a little surprised. I tried to swallow the sentence but it came out anyway.

“They’re beautiful.” He blushed again and pretended to be distracted by some shirt. The conversation was dropped there and we spent the rest of the trip in almost-silence, save for the odd bit of small talk.

\---

I made a vow to myself the moment we got home that I would never spend more than an hour shopping again. My back hurt, my feet hurt, my eyes were drooping and my brain hurt. Eren, however looked excessively happily and I tried to tell myself that the leap my heart made was just the thought of being home after a long time spent shopping.

I decided to order take out. I couldn’t be fucked to try and cook again and Eren seemed to jump at that thought anyway (I told myself that the only reason I was ordering take was because I was too lazy to make food at least). When the food arrived, we sat in front of Netflix and I asked Eren what he wanted to watch. “Errr… Would it be okay to watch…”

“What was that?”

“…”

“Speak up brat.”

“I said Beauty and the Beast.” He flushed bright red at the outburst. (That was not cute, not fucking cute in any way). Choosing the search option, I typed it in then played the film.

\---

“There is no way Imma believe that Gaston is straight.” I giggled.

“He luvs Belle, fuhck you.” Eren slurred. I decided that getting out the wine I had was a mistake.

“No. Look a’ thaht he is fuhcking staaaring at thaht guys ass.”

“Noooooooo. He’s juhst climing the cassle.” I snorted at this. It was fair to say that we were very drunk. I found myself staring at Eren as he giggled at the screen. My brain supplied my mind with the unhelpful thought of silencing that giggle with a kiss. I swatted at the air, forgetting the fact that doing that didn’t get rid of annoying thoughts. I turned back to the screen and saw the beast was dying or some shit. I turned back to Eren and saw that he was crying, his tears making his eyes look like lagoons of blue/green light. “Whyyyyy. He was sooo nice. Leviiiii tell me he’s gohnna live.” I found myself being suffocate by Eren’s sudden hug. I could tell he’d already watched the film a bunch of times so I didn’t know why he was asking me. I told myself that the warmth in my cheeks was just the alcohol. “Yer an idyet.” I mumbled.

\---

My head was killing me. I cracked open my eyes and groaned at the light blasting through the window. I then realised there was a weight on my chest. I opened one eye and saw Eren drooling on me. Had he crawled into my bed last night? Had we slept together? I then looked at my surroundings and realised that we must have just passed out on the sofa and ignored the small bit of disappointment. I tried to move, then realised Eren had his arms wrapped tightly around my waist. Great now I was a living body pillow for someone 3 years younger than me. I groaned and carefully extracted myself from his iron grip.

 Reaching my cupboard, I grabbed some paracetamol and then some water for myself and Eren. I put his on the coffee table in the living room with the tablets, then went back through to the kitchen deciding that even I could make toast.

A couple of minutes later a very sleepy looking Eren walked into the kitchen. His hair was sticking out in all directions and his turquoise eyes were clouded with sleep, this time they looked like the sky on a not-too-sunny day. “Who are you again? Oh wait, Levi.” I snorted then turned back to the toaster and saw how badly burnt the toast was (was it genuinely impossible for me to cook food?). Eren looked at the toast. “How can you mess up toast?” I flushed.

“Er… my toaster declared war on me a while ago.” He laughed. My heart jumped again.

“Here let me cook.” He checked the fridge and found the eggs I bought a couple of days ago (I honestly didn’t know why I had bought them) then grabbed the bread that I hadn’t massacred. He started whisking the eggs and I left him to do it sitting down at the table and nibbling at my burnt toast while wondering why this didn’t feel strange. Even though I didn’t want to ruin this new-found friendship, a question had been nagging at me since I had found Eren and I was desperate to know the answer. “So, if it’s not too rude to ask, why were you living on the streets?” Eren stiffened visibly and I knew I had made a mistake. “Don’t worry you don’t have to answer.”

“You’ve done so much for and I don’t know if there is any way I could pay you back… I’m not quit… ready to tell anyone though. It’s not something I enjoy remembering.” I nodded, this seemed like a valid point so I let it drop; I still hoped he would tell me someday. “Are you actually eating that toast?” I looked at the blackened husk then back at Eren.

“Yes.”

“That stuff could be toxic what are you doing?!” I shrugged. Then he grabbed the toast and threw it in the bin.

“Hey! I was eating that.”

“Did it taste good.”

“Not really.”

“Then there’s no point complaining.” I frowned. He then placed a plate of fried eggs and toast and all arguments left my head. I could practically feel him grinning, but decided to ignore him in favour of eating the food he had cooked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you have enjoyed reading this so far. We're halfway through now. Please leave kudos if you enjoyed.


	4. Hope for The future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally some romance...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has taken me so long to write this chapter, I apologise. So much stuff has happened to me and I lost motivation and got writer's block, not going to lie it's not great but I', avoiding doing anything else in case I lose motivation again.

It had been a few months since I first met Levi and while we had argued about it for the first few days I had eventually given in and agreed to live in his house. At least until I could rent my own. Ever since I had decided to stay I had been feeling bad for doing nothing to help. The only thing Levi would let me do was cook. So that had brought me to looking for jobs that I could do with enough time to study to get into university (I really wanted to continue my eduation). I was cooking breakfast for him as I knew he had pulled another all-nighter because he had suddenly found inspiration for his book and felt the need to write. He would usually fall asleep in the early hours but he hadn’t last night and I assumed he’d felt particularly inspired. I finished his full English and placed it on a tray before heading upstairs into the monster’s den.

As expected, Levi was incredibly grumpy from lack of sleep. He opened the door and I almost believed it was Gollum opening the door for me. Short and angry with deepset eyes. I smirked to myself and Levi looked at me in disapproval over the top of his morning tea. “What are you so happy about.”

“Nothing.” He frowned and it would have been menacing if he hadn’t been so sleep deprived. I felt my cheeks warm slightly and was glad Levi wasn’t paying attention. “Did you get anything good done on your new book?” Levi nodded.

“I decided it isn’t going to the next one in my current series. I started writing a side story about a different character. He’s going to be a person with no tortured past like the others and who instead is going through the torture of others.” I nodded as though I understood.

“You don’t get it do you?” I winced.

“It was that obvious?”

“You only act sincere when you aren’t.” I sighed.

“I’ll just have to read it then. Ooh can I proof read for you?”

“I have an editor to do that. Now flee, I have work to do I don’t need kids trying to give me writer’s block.” I pouted and begrudgingly headed towards the door.

“We both know you secretly enjoy my presence.” He spluttered into his tea and I blushed after realising what I said. Then quickly ran out the door. I had a job interview to get to anyway.

\---

Eren had had been out all day and I was starting to wonder where the little shit was. He was usually home in time to cook dinner, but he was still out and I was starting to get worried. Obviously this wasn’t helping with my writing and I ended up deciding to go and get some fresh air. I grabbed my coat from downstairs and headed towards the front door. 

As usual I wasn’t actually paying attention to where I was going. I was just walking and hoping my legs would help me find Eren. I had been to Hange’s already and the park but he was nowhere in sight. I was started to get really stressed and no matter how I thought about it I was scared. Scared he was lost. Scared he had left. Scared that I might not see him again. Scared I would lose him too. Eventually I found myself walking into a bar to shelter myself from the rain. It was called Wall Maria and there was some band playing music. I looked for somewhere to sit, but I noticed Eren sitting, hidden in a corner and all hunched up. I walked over to him, grabbed a chair and sat next to him. He didn’t notice me until I gently called to him. When he looked up his face was tear stained and I felt my heart lurch. “Levi?” I nodded.

“What’s wrong?” He threw himself into my arms and his sobbing continued.

“I’m so sorry, I couldn’t find anyone to hire me and I can’t leave your house and I know you want me to so I’ll just leave and I’m so sorry, so so sorry and I know I’m just as worthless as they said and I promise I’ll leave tomorrow just please let me stay with you one more night.” I noticed that people were staring at us weirdly and that he didn’t need   
this attention.

“Hey, Eren, why would I ever want you to leave, I said you could stay with me didn’t I?”

“I know, but you don’t know everything and you want me at your house after you find out the truth.”

“I know I still will Eren because I know you’re not a bad person, so how about we go home and you tell me everything and I’ll prove that I don’t mind.” I felt him nod into my chest and I stroked his hair before helping him to stand up.

\---

After helping Eren down on to my sofa, I made tea and handed it to him he smiled up at me. “Feeling better?” He nodded. “So do you want to talk or…?”

“Yeah, I feel like you deserve to know the truth after how kind you’ve been to me. I’m sorry about earlier, I was just having a bad day and then on top of that, the band at the bar were playing my mother’s favourite song and I just…” He paused, looked down at his tea and bit his lip. I didn’t say anything, worried that he would stop speaking. “I guess, it all started because of bullies at school, you know how they love to pick on any kid, well as you can guess these… things on my face were perfect food for their scorn and even though it was just words, it still hurt and pretty much the only people that accepted me were my parents and… well it’s quite hard to love yourself when no one else does, but I kept on.” He stopped and sipped his tea, thinking for a while. “Well anyway when I started year 11 and my GCSEs, there was a big fire in my neighbourhood and, well both my parents were at home and got caught in the fire.” He stopped and tears started to fall down his face. I was overwhelmed by how beautiful he looked, too scared to even move in case I ruined the moment. “The doctors tried, but they couldn’t save them, my mum was even on life support for a few months, but it was clear that she wasn’t going to wake up. Obviously I was staying with a foster family at this point in time and, their daughter was okay and so were they, but…”

“You don’t have to continue if you don’t want to.” He shook his head.

“I have to. Well anyway I worked out that I’m gay when I was 15 and well obviously that just added to my tormentor’s fuel, but then I found this really great guy after my parents died, his name was Armin and he made everything seem like it was going to get better and it got to the point where I was going to introduce him to my foster parents officially… Before I could they caught us kissing and well, to top it all off turns out my foster parents were homophobic.” His eyes swirled with darkness and I could see that he was getting lost in his memories. “Well they banned me from ever seeing him and it got so bad that I ran away. I tried to find Armin, but he had vanished and… Well you know the rest. And I’m sorry, but that’s not everything and I know it’s disgusting of me and you don’t ever have to see me again, but… I fell in love with you.” Tears were cascading down his cheeks and I felt some on mine too. “It’s okay I’ll leave, I’m sure it’ll be uncomfortable having me here.” Eren got up to leave.

“No wait!” Eren stopped and turned to me. Carefully, I approached him, step by step. “I understand, I mean I haven’t had the best life, my parents died when I was pretty young- “

“Levi don’t feel like you have to keep me here because of your promise.” I finally reached him.

“Eren it’s not that. It’s… I… You see I just.” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “I fell in love with you too.” He just stood there and stared at me, not even crying. “Eren? That’s okay, right?” A solitary tear rolled down his cheek, before he nodded. Nodded continuously and pulled me into his arms, and I embraced him too. We stayed like that for ages before Eren was fumbling with one of his hands. He found my chin, buried in his chest, and lifted my head to face his. He moved his own head and I closed my eyes as our lips met.

It wasn’t all fireworks and stars as the movies made it out to be, it wasn’t even a very good kiss, but it was so delicate and hopeful and broken and even though it wasn’t the best. It was perfect, the perfect contact that I had wanted to experience at least once in my life. I reached my arms up to pull Eren closer and felt his arms tighten around my back and I finally felt complete.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the cheese, eheh I was cringing as I was writing it (while feeling bags forming on my eyes, coffee is not a substitute for sleep people).

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, there won't be regular updates but they will only be a week apart at the longest i promise. If you liked it please leave kudos. :)


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